


midnight rendezvous

by Yhantou (yhantou)



Category: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (Movies)
Genre: F/M, M/M, Post-Movie 2: Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-08
Updated: 2021-02-15
Packaged: 2021-03-17 20:53:37
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 22,277
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29106636
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yhantou/pseuds/Yhantou
Summary: Aurelius, the name was restored to its owner.Everything seems well, but inexplicably, he had been living a somewhat unfulfilling life in Nurmengard. One day Grindelwald shows him the memories. The memories of the days he once spent with Nagini. Then Grindelwald tells a distraught Credence/Aurelius that "you can save people."
Relationships: Aurelius Dumbledore & Gellert Grindelwald, Credence Barebone/Nagini
Kudos: 4





	1. Chapter 1

The branches made a dry sound under his shoes.  
He continued walking through the forest at night, not caring that the thin branches he couldn't brush away hit his face. The moon, which had been above his head when he left the castle, was gone, and the few rays of light falling from the sky were blocked by leaves, making the black forest not much different from darkness. The further he went, the deeper the forest became, and it became difficult to even walk in a straight line, blocked by the thick roots of the trees. If there was a light here now, he would be able to clearly see the many small scratches on his face and hands.  
He wondered what he was doing.  
He didn't know what he was going to do now. What could he change? Still, he kept going because of the impatient feeling that arose in his heart. He kept going and eventually came to a vacancy he knew.  
He spotted a Thestral in the trees, and as he started to walk towards it, his eyes caught sight of a man standing quietly beside a celestial horse.  
His eyes caught sight of a man standing quietly beside a Thestral, a white face floating in the darkness, pointed at him.  
He hesitated just a little, but he did not stop walking. It should not be surprising. It was obvious why he had come here in the middle of the night - for him and for Grindelwald.  
If that was the case, there was pointless in hiding or pretending then.  
He touched the body of the Thestral, pushing the existence of what he had just seen out of his consciousness as much as possible. The rugged, bony skin resembled Firedrakes he had cared for in the circus. The Thestral didn't mind being touched by him however It didn't change his initial impression of her, and her black back didn't look very comfortable to ride. He've heard before that when people straddle a horse, they usually wear a saddle. He thought and wondered if he should cling desperately to the thick, sturdy neck. He wasn't sure he could make it to his destination without being knocked off from the Thestral.  
'Are you going?"  
Instead of replying, he unbuckled his belt, put it around the Thestral's neck as a bridle, and walked to the center of the vacancy.

'Here's a safe place for you. Dumbledore never attack this castle.'  
'...'  
'So are you going?'  
Whispered Grindelwald with quiet voice. It just a confirmation of fact.  
He stopped and stared into Thestral's eyes.

'...Why did you show me that?"

"To help you know your own self." that's what Grindelwald certainly said.  
He still had not know what it meant or why Grindelwald said it. He had not know why is he still here and why decided to speak to Grindelwald even now.  
He finally looked back.  
Two-person were standing across from each other, there was a distance between them. It was only a few steps away if he would be taking large strides. It reminded him of that day when they had faced each other on the roof.  
Grindelwald should not have been able to stop him.

  
I

This scene was formed over a long period of time by the forces of nature.  
Sunlight poured down from the cloudless sky onto the surface of the rocks, and from the top of the rock wall, he could see a vast scene. The huge rocks lying here and there in the steep terrain were impossible to carry by hand. At first he was astonished, but now he know that they were brought here by glaciers long ago and left behind.  
He took a breath, inhaled, and let it spread through his body. The cool early morning air fills his lungs with comfort, and soon his limbs are filled with strength. He kicked hard with his heels at the tree trunk, which had been resting on him for a moment.  
The leaves swayed as he ran past.  
After passing through the coniferous forest, he found an open land.  
Cows were grazing in a flat pasture, shaded in places by clouds. From the sky, everything looked flat. He glided past a gentle slope dotted with short houses, and suddenly the view was cut off. There was nothing to block our view, and beyond the clear sky loomed a tremendous mountain range.  
Without hesitation, he leapt to the bottom of the cliff, where he knew he could lose his life if he took a step forward.  
He landed on the jutting rocks from time to time, taking small breaks as he went down. Quickly and carefully and cautiously ......  
For now, he must not be seen as much as possible.  
That's what Grindelwald told to him.  
As he follow the river, the village comes into view below him.  
Beyond the church with its protruding steeple, on a stage set up on the riverbank, the play he had seen the other day was being performed.  
It was a play about the overthrow of the Habsburg oppressors who had tormented the people, and the return of freedom to their hands. Even though he was still a novice and not familiar with history, he was struck by the way the people in their ancient costumes stood around. And most impressive was the father shooting an apple on his son's head. When asked why he had two arrows in his hand, he replied, "If I miss, then I was going to shoot you dead with the second arrow."  
He remembered the fearless smile on the performer's face.  
He don't know why the rebel told that. So he asked the question.  
When he heard the question, Grindelwald smiled.

Cutting the wind, he pulled out his wand and struck from above. The huge boulder cracked, shattered and shattered. All of the stray rocks lying on the valley floor were shattered until there was no trace of them left. With a swipe of his wand, He cleared away the dust that spread like smoke. He could tell myself that he was getting better every day.  
The sound of applause came from some distance away. It was getting closer and closer. The next time, he would probably reach out his palm with his usual supportive hand. He wondered if he would touch him on the shoulder.  
He didn't want to do that now, so he kept his distance.  
’How are you feeling?’ said Grindelwald.  
......  
Grindelwald should have known if he was in good shape or not. Since the man had been watching him all day. So he guessed what Grindelwald want to know was something else. There were not many things that could be told in advance. Or so he thought.

With thick stone walls for the weather which were hot summers and long winters.  
It was a strange castle. The various styles were mixed and harmonized with each other. The decorations that adorned the interior were all opulent and showed the taste of the lord of the castle. He followed her down the corridors that connected the library, the hall, and the guest rooms, passing by the many marble statues that lined the corridors.  
'Watch out for Grindelwald.'  
She mouthed as they descended the spiral staircase, her gait not changing a bit from her walk down the corridor.  
'I know...'  
’Is that so?'  
She tilted her head, and the sound of her high heels did not change her almost reflexive response. The footsteps descended at even intervals. Unable to contain his suddenly swollen feelings, he took a step forward. He know about such things. Probably more than you do. He was about to say this, but something caught his attention and he couldn't say a word.  
She went straight down and disappeared from his sight.

Suddenly, he felt a presence and turned around.

Two steamy teacups and two homemade cakes lined up in front of him.  
"Can we talk for a minute?" She said, acting cheerful as if to cover up the awkwardness.  
He was beginning to get used to being mistaken for someone else. So he meekly took a chair across from her and sipped on that sweet drink he couldn't finish.  
The common ground between them was very limited. She said, "I want a world where people like you don't have to get hurt again."   
In her panic, she leaned forward, which caused her elbow to hit the cup. The cup fell to the floor. She waved her wand at the shattered cup and tried unsuccessfully several times to get the pieces to stick together. That was just as well, because his fingertips were trembling. He felt nasty a little and left his seat.  
'I don't want to talk to you.'  
She droped her eyes to the table.  
She pursed her lips, looking as if she was holding back something.  
He closed the door. He walked to his private office. From his point of view, she was the one who was desperate, lost, and pretending to be fine. She was like a different person sometimes. She walks around the castle, looking for someone to talk to, someone who will listen to her. We all know that the person she really wants to talk to is not here.  
There are only two person here who could soothe her. Today, neither of them were here. He never want to be replaced by someone else. Even if he didn't, she would still make him uncomfortable by talking about the old her.  
There were other reasons why he didn't want to talk to Queenie Goldstein.  
Someone was looking at him. As if someone knew all of him.  
It was a feeling that sometimes woke him up in a doze. He felt as if I was being haunted by an unidentifiable shadow. The feeling of discomfort he felt in front of Queenie was very similar to that.  
She stepped into people's lives without notice always. Footsteps without care. And it sounded to him as if she was saying, "Why are you here?" "Why aren't you satisfied with the answers you've gotten?"...

He pulled out his wand and shot the shadow. Still, the shadows drifted away, shredded like smoke, and tangled all over his body. It was just a dream. But It seemed to cast a dark shadow in his mind that would never go away, even if it was only a dream.

He woke up.  
He had been called a name which was not his name.  
Irritated, he pretended not to hear. There was a simple wooden table underneath a row of china. A slice of hard bread on a plate in front of him, brown soup poured into the next plate, he knew how tasteless it is well. He understood. He didn't need to look at the wooden ceiling or walls to know where he was.  
He understood that.  
He was called again by a name that was not his.  
Then, he was condemned.  
A woman's voice, filled with anger and disappointment. The woman's cold, dumbfounded gaze. "Why can't this boy be normal?" "Why can't he be normal?" The voices of those who had once frightened him. Cowering in a corner and waiting for the storm to pass was the only thing he could do. He wouldn't have been able to endure it otherwise. He knew that too well.  
And it no longer mattered for him.   
Because that was not his name. Because this was no place for him.  
He walked around the table and approached them slowly.

The ashy canyon landscape melted into a dark green swirl, enveloping his vision in deep darkness. The sound of leaves brushing against each other. From the unique texture of the ground, I knew I was in the middle of a forest, close to the castle. There was the sound of grass being trampled. There was no sign of Grindelwald, and he seemed to have left for his destination.  
He walked in the direction of the sound.   
When he reached the depths of the forest, he saw a horse-like animal with wings growing out of its back. They had long black tails. Six in all. He had never seen such creepy creatures before.  
'You can see them, can't you?'  
It was not a question. It wasn't a question, but it gave him some idea of what he was going to say next. They were - Grindelwald lifted the corner of his mouth and took a breath, then gestured to the horses in the clearing at the far end of the forest.  
'They are only visible to those who have seen death before.'

The shadows are still cowering in the corner of the room today, looking frightened. Narrowing his eyes, he glared at it.

It looked familiar. So much so.

”It” covered a crowd of people in tails and dresses.  
He let out a yell and leapt at the man on the stage. He grabbed him by the neck, twisted him around, and slammed him to the floor with force. With that, the man dead. He was intoxicated by the power and the excitement that came over him. He want to tell all people who the hell did this to me. He want to tell the name of the person who hurt "it".  
But he couldn't remember his own name.  
His adoptive mother came into his view, one of his adoptive sister lying on the floor. His elation waned as he saw this.  
"That's not my name." He thought. "That's not my name. Never."

The shadow slowly walked around him.  
It turned and whispered in his ear. He backed away.

"Aurelius."  
  
"Aurelius Dumbledore."  
Whose name is that? It was HIS name. It was his own name that had been stolen from him. 

Otherwise, he had no reason to be here now.

In fear and confusion, he turned and ran.  
He have to kill "It".  
He raised his wand and struck down on the shadow, which continued to shake and scream pitifully. Again and again. Each time, the shadow screamed and fell apart, leaving no trace. Just as he thought he had killed it, it regained its form and ran away from the edge of his vision. He aimed the tip of his staff at it. The shadow bursts out from under his glaring gaze and becomes a black blotch on the wall.  
He killed it this time. Just as he thought this, he felt a presence growl behind him. The shadow that had regained its shape was frantically fleeing towards the other side of the tunnel.  
"There's no need to upset." He repeated in his heart.  
He was getting stronger every day. There was no reason to lose against the shadow.  
He wondered what was this impatience. No matter how strong he gets, there is no response. The view from the castle, which looked so fresh at first, now looks faded and boring. He feel like I've been forgetting something for a long time.  
He kept asking himself that question over and over again.

Eventually, he caught the shadow and grabbed "it". He tightened it with all the strength he could muster.   
  
"Don't kill me!"

Credence looked at him with frightened eyes and was pleading with him. In a voice that sounded like coughing up blood.  
Without hesitation, he crushed "it" in his grip.

It shattered. It was like dust.  
He couldn't see anything anymore.

If only he had died then, he wouldn't have had to suffer like this. 


	2. Chapter 2

II

Someone was bending down toward him.  
After a few moments of staring, he realized that it was apparently Grindelwald's face, white in the dimness. Lying there, he looked toward the entrance. The key he ordered to be installed was still functioning properly.  
'...... How did you get in?'  
He is not sure what to say, but he said.  
'This is my castle.'  
'...'  
That's right. It was obvious. "What a stupid thing to ask?"   
'It's your home, too.'  
He looked down and didn't answer.  
He tried to shake off the hand grabbing his arm, but somehow he couldn't find the strength in his body. He shivered as he realized that he was sweating. It didn't matter what it was, he wanted something warm. At this rate, he wouldn't even have enough energy to crawl under the blankets. He hadn't had to deal with the lassitude of waking up for a while.  
It should have been.  
The flame in the fireplace seemed to have gotten stronger but not to the point where his teeth were no longer clicking together.  
'You've been having nightmares. What did you dream about?'  
He listened vaguely to Grindelwald's voice.  
He couldn't remember anything, though he seemed to be able to.  
'It doesn't matter.'  
He tried to make it sound stinging. But on the contrary, the voice that came out of his mouth was so weak.  
He hoped that Grindelwald would walk away from his room.  
Grindelwald stared into his eyes, then said.  
'Do not be troubled by the dead. You have gained much by surviving their deaths.  
'...'  
'They have fed you.'  
"For the greater good." Whispering this, Grindelwald slowly smiled at him. For the greater good... The poetry of the words echoed in his ears. "So, what is it?" He nuzzled his face into the pillow and waited for the next words. But the door was closed, and there was no continuation of the words from Grindelwald at last.  
He had to think on his own.

He felt like he was forgetting something.

'There's no need to rush.'  
Grindelwald whispered. He felt his heart slowly subside as his overly-strengthened fists slowly unclenched. He couldn't bring himself to shake off the hands on his shoulders today. He couldn't refuse that. Somewhat regaining his composure, he remained silent. He was not a child, so he knew he had to wait. He knew that. It would have been suicide to be out on the mountain on such a blizzard day, even the wizards. But he continued to look grudgingly at the scenery outside the window.  
It was not going to stop snowing.

"Time is running out..."  
Credence thought as he leaned his back against the wall and looked up at the falling snow. One after another, the white snow piled up on his hat, and he could feel it getting heavier by the minute. His body was cold to the tips of his fingers, and he hadn't been able to move for a whole day since he returned to his hiding place. In the shadows of a scrap lumberyard at the end of a dark alleyway where anybody ever goes. It was Credence's current bed, home, and place of residence.  
"At least for today." Tomorrow he would have to move on to the next place. The sound of snow sliding off the roof disturbed his sleep as he waited for it to get dark. He wondered how many hours had passed. He saw a small figure in the distance. Two figures, apparently lovers, were looking at me. He waited breathlessly from under his pushed down hat, pretending to be asleep. After they left, he carefully raised himself up from the ground.  
He couldn't stay in this place anymore.  
Not like it had been before, or even more than before.  
Everyone seemed to have lost interest in Credence. It was as if he had entered another world after that day. And that was undoubtedly the case. Credence was no longer a person in the old world. At first, it brought a strange calmness to Credence. No one would question him about anything. And yet, from time to time, he would feel someone's eyes on him. Confusion, contempt, disgust... and often, sympathy.  
He knew that he must not be carried away. Poison is lurking in the midst of kindness. Every time he noticed it, he shook it off. he pretended not to see it.  
He couldn't trust anyone.  
He survived by stealing things. Even the slightest noise made him tense up, and living in hiding was much more miserable than before. Wandering from dark to dark, hungry and exhausted, he slept. He wanted to avoid looking like a shadow as much as possible. On the other hand, it was dangerous to stay in human form. The murderer of Senator Shaw - even though several days had passed since then, he hadn't had the chance to see such a newspaper article. It wasn't long before he had a chance to find out why.  
Credence learned about it from a wizarding newspaper that he happened to pick up.  
The true identity of the Obscurial was a young man by the name of Credence Barebone. The Aurors put down the Obscurial, and the incident was successfully solved. With the help of Newt Scamander of the British Ministry of Magic, MACUSA succeeded in arresting Grindelwald, who had been working in the shadows of the incident, and the memories of the No-Majs living in New York were successfully corrected...  
Obscurial.  
Credence had heard that name before.

The voice had whispered to him from behind before.  
"Reach for what you want." the voice had said.  
"Take it before you lose it, and let it be known to you. Remind them of the pain you've suffered..." He already know who the voice is that whispers to him constantly. It was whispering now. All this time, that voice had been supporting Credence.  
It was like a guide.  
He was already aware that he had been expecting something from it. He knew that he had been expecting something for a long time, but he couldn't admit it. He didn't want to admit that. Maybe.   
"Maybe he'll appear."  
The hope that he would appear in front of him did not disappear even after all this time. As if nothing had happened, he would touch him gently and said kind words to him with a kind face...  
Credence continued to roll up the newspaper until the sun went down and the words became unreadable.

'Grindelwald...'

The sound of the name on his lips was unfamiliar, and it quickly fell to his feet with the falling snow, sinking into the ground.  
Tears, which he thought had dried up, were running down his cheeks before he realized it. It had happened only two weeks ago, but it seemed like a long time ago. The sickening mixture of things in his stomach, the neon sign, his cold, gnawed fingertips, the water droplets floating on the bottle, the crumpled up newspaper, the pain of his bent body, the whiteness of his breath, the dusty, uninhabited road, the shadow of someone walking a little ahead of him, the sound of someone's shoes, the countless shadows slipping by... the occurrences of those days came and went in his mind. He couldn't forget. No way he'd forget them. That smile.  
The lips that lied to him.

He tore them apart in anger.  
As the torn newspaper danced in the air, the Gellert Grindelwald in the photo was still laughing provocatively.  
Before he couldn't contain himself any longer, Credence left the place.

"What would I live for?" He've never thought about that before. It was something he had been able to avoid thinking about.

The circus performers on the ship seemed to be more energetic than when they were on the ground. The guide poked Credence and jerked his chin toward the stern. The narrow passageway shrunk down into ended in a dead end. A voice called out from beneath Credence's feet, and he looked up in confusion to see a strange little door about two feet wide. The voice seemed to be asking him to come in here. The breeze brought smell of the sea to his nose in the air when he crouched down and pinched the handle of the door.  
Credence looked back one last time.  
The view of New York was fading into the distance. he could see it through the gap between the cage and the crate. In this way, Credence said goodbye in his heart to the familiar streets, to the city and its people, who had never accepted him until the end.  
And then - at the end of his journey, he learned the truth and his world was turned upside down.

Yet, the memories continued to haunt him.

Hollow voices came from far away and near.  
He could feel the gravel under his feet. He could feel the vibration from the soles of his shoes. Here was in a subway station in New York, he was right next to the tracks. Someone is watching him. Gradually, the figure becomes clearer and clearer. He crouched down and made eye contact with this man, who was now saying something to him. His eyes, his face didn't look like he was lying. It made him forget for a moment to doubt.  
"This man - he is using you."  
In a memory that pierced him like a thorn, the woman now said in an accusatory tone. Behind her, there were many wizards with wands, their hostility bared. Credence didn't understand at that moment. No matter how a desperate look she tried to gave him , she was none other than one of the aurors.  
He had just learned that believing what he sees is foolishness, wasn't it?

If, at that time...

'If you had fallen into their hands tonight, they would have killed you this time.'  
Credence looked around the dimly lit room he had been ushered into. His legs still wobbled from the sensation of having passed through so many fireplaces. The floor looked distorted.  
He felt... so awful.  
He didn't know why he was here.

'Credence.'  
He'd never heard a voice like that before.  
But he knew someone who looked at him like this. He knew someone who would touch him like this.  
The owner of the voice came out of the shadows and began to transform even as he watched. The man took the form of another man of similar height, a familiar figure. As the man walked forward. The form changed, and by the time the man was standing in front of Credence, he was a man with his black hair slicked back gracefully.  
Gellert Grindelwald smiled.  
Grinedlwald looked exactly as he had when he approached him, calling himself Percival Graves.  
'Do you still hate me? Credence.'  
"This has all been for you." Grindelwald's words came back to him.  
He didn't know.  
He'd be lying if he said I didn't hate Grindelwald. He didn't think I can give you an answer right away. Need some time to think about it...  
He looked out the window and realized that there was no window in this room. Long-legged candlesticks were lined up against the wall, their wicks glowing with the warm light of the flames. There were no other lights. The figure of Grindelwald appeared white in the darkness, surrounded by a gray haze. It was the smoke from a creepy pipe of a skull on a chair, which had been transformed.  
The number engraved on the skull's forehead read 1851.  
He didn't know what it meant.

As he looked up at one of the statues floating in the air, Grindelwald continued to speak.  
'This woman's name is Porpentina Goldstein.'  
The image of a witch with dark brown hair was projected on it.  
Tina Goldstein.  
He knew her. It was the name she used to tell Credence, who was handing out leaflets on the street. He could remember it clearly now. At that time...  
The figure approached slowly and crouched down in front of him. The woman was as if it had no intention of harming Credence, who was staring breathlessly at her. She gently touched her arm and said, "It's okay. Her eyes were filled with tears. She smiled encouragingly at him.  
He had been deceived from that moment on.  
Looking back, she had been persistently stalking him even before .......  
As Credence bit down hard on her back teeth. Grindelwald cautioned him again. In the space indicated by the tip of his wand, the image of another human being was projected.  
The man who had spoken to Credence from across the tracks.  
With a stern look in his eyes, Grindelwald told her the man's name.  
'It's a man named Scamander. He has been watching you under Dumbledore's order for some time now.'  
'...Dumbledore?'  
Grindelwald turned around.  
'Albus Dumbledore - the once fellow who shared our views and the man behind all that is happening in the present‐day world.'  
'...'  
'It's late. We'll talk tomorrow.'  
Grindelwald pated him on the shoulder. The familiar gesture gently jolted his memory, reminding him of days long gone. He had no way to resist it.  
"I want you to tell me everything. Now..." He tried to say this, but he couldn't continue. He couldn't keep his eyes open. Credence was being dragged down into a muddy sleep.

  
'Do you remember anything?'  
He didn't notice there was a man standing behind him until he heard a voice in his ear. For a moment he was confused what Grindelwald talks about, and after a pause he realized that it was a question about his background itself. He also realized that it was not a question, but a confirmation. That's the end. - Credence lowered his eyes and asked himself.  
There was nothing there.  
The only thing that came back was an empty echo.  
'I don't know anything about me.'  
'No wonder.'  
The touch of Grindelwald's hand on his elbow was gentle. The words he spoke were enigmatic, and Credence moved his gaze to look into Grindelwald's eyes.  
'I know where your memories are.'

Then Credence asked.  
He heard Grindelwald say "the name."  
The moment he heard the name, the questions that had been littering Creedence's mind since last night melted away. The fire that filled his chest quickly spread to his fingertips, and Credence bit his lip as he clenched his numb fists. After waiting for the words to fully sink into Credence, Grindelwald opened again his mouth quietly.  
'You have suffered the most heinous of betrayals, most purposely bestowed upon you by your own blood. Your own flesh and blood,‘  
The declaration echoed in the silent drawing room. Credence stared into Grindelwald's face. He listened carefully, trying not to miss even a single word that escaped Grindelwald's lips, but at the same time, he remembered what did he once feel and what did he once think.  
He was standing in that town without a place to go, looking up at the sky, looking at ...... his adopted mother's face, and staring at something beyond it for a long time. I've been searching for a figure of some kind since before I can remember.  
He've always hated someone.  
He've always hated the person who put him in this situation.  
Throughout his thoughts, Grindelwald's words continued.

'And just as he has celebrated your torment, your brother seeks to destroy you.'

Credence inhaled sharply.

Albus Dumbledore.  
He finally knew the name of the enemy he had to defeat.  
Each morning and each night brought him further away from the man he had once been, and with each passing day, he became a different person. He could see it in himself. Remembering his old life was like looking at a shadow behind a cloudy glass, it seemed like something that had happened in a distant world that he had no connection with, or something that had happened to someone else.Nevertheless, the shadows suddenly appeared in a corner of the scene that he saw. Every time he woke up from a muddy dream, he thought, shaking off the countless black shards that covered his vision.  
Not a speck of dirt or stain on his hands.

'What are you fighting for?'  
He turned around as he walked through the mountains in early winter. The wind patterns was appearing and disappearing on snow-covered ground. The owner of the voice was standing near a tree covered with ice fog.  
He looked at Grindelwald's face. The reflection of the falling snow made the eyeball of right eye look even more translucent, so he could not read the emotions in it and did not know what he was thinking.  
Instead of opening his mouth, he grabbed his wand again.  
'Just ask Goldstein.'  
At night, he thought, staring at his palms.  
"What was he fighting for?" It was obvious - to stay alive. "Someone is trying to kill me." He wondered, how many people would be able to remain calm after being told that. That's why he has spent most of the months since the day he heard about Dumbledore's plans for the wizarding world training.  
For himself.  
Definitely not for Grindelwald.  
He didn't know what Grindelwald had in mind, however, this was definitely what Grindelwald wanted. It seemed so unnatural for him to ask why he was fighting.  
He sank his head into the pillow, turned over, and bent his body in two. There was so much he didn't understand.  
All he could do was to make sure that nothing more would be taken from him.  
Even if Grindelwald was lying, even if he was trying to turn Albus Dumbledore against him, it would not be a waste. Being strong is not pointless...  
But he wasn't going to go out of his way to tell Grindelwald that.

There was a long table in a white, high-ceilinged room with sunlight streaming in. It was covered with a pure white tablecloth that reached all the way to the floor, the edges of which were delicately embroidered with gold thread.  
Also today, there were only two people at the table.  
He realized that he had never thought about which room in the castle the other people - for instance, Queenie Goldstein and Vinda Rosier - were eating in.  
He was seated to eat. But for some reason, only today, he didn't feel like eating.  
......  
'You didn't notice me.'  
He said, looking into the eyes of Grindelwald, who was sitting across from him.  
'When I met you a year ago, you were not the man I knew.'  
'Was that Albus's work, too?'  
'Yes.'  
The regularity of the sound continued, it seemed to go on forever, in the silence, never disturbed...  
The sound of dishes was breaking the silence of the room. Grindelwald stopped eating. They finally met their gazes head on.  
'I know what you're thinking.'  
He was helplessly exasperated.  
The water in his glass shook with the aftermath of his impact. The white tablecloth wrinkled under his slammed fist. However the fact that Grindelwald didn't even seem to be aware of it made him even more uncomfortable.  
"Kill Albus Dumbledore." "Make Albus Dumbledore dead." He should have just said it outright, but he was uncomfortable with the roundabout way he was talking. With one eyebrow raised slightly, Grindelwald seemed to have no intention of interrupting him. So he tried to choose his words carefully and slowly, as if he was trying to vent his pent up doubts. But he knew what he wanted to ask ...from the start.  
'Why don't you go yourself?'  
He waited for the moment when the question he had posed would change the color of Grindelwald's face. He didn't intend to miss anything, intend to overlook anything. He wasn't going to let any excuses go unanswered.  
The next words he heard were beyond his imagination.  
'You're the only one who can kill him.'  
Grindelwald said it as if it wasn't happen. As if he talked about an immovable fact.  
'...'  
'The only person that Albus Dumbledore fears is you. He was so afraid of your power that he tried to destroy you before you knew the truth.'  
'...'  
'He wanted to reduce you to nothing, to put down you.'  
He continued to stare at Grindelwald's face. "Could I trust him?" "Could there be a hidden agenda?"  
'You would not have given in to such a horrible plan.'  
With a gentle smile, Grindelwald concluded and returned to his breakfast.  
He turned his face down. Slowly repeating in his mind what he had just heard, he sneaked a look across the table at the other man. Again - he didn't know how to react.  
It was true that he was strong. In fact, his power was getting stronger. He could feel it clearly. But If what Grindelwald's story is true, Albus Dumbledore is a man with whom he had once shared a mutual purpose. Grindelwald used to get along with and acknowledge the power of the Dumbledore. The man, now a teacher in Hogwarts in Great Britain. He wondered, he really have the power to kill someone like that. "Is he lying me again?"   
Albus Dumbledore is his brother by blood, he said. He had no memory of that. Would he really be able to remember everything when he regained the memories that Albus had taken from him, as Grindelwald had said? He thought about what he didn't know. The person who was supposed to know the truth was right in front of him, and yet Grindelwald didn't seem to be willing to give it to him in one breath.  
It was infuriating.  
He broke off his thoughts and looked at the table.  
The meat was tender and stewed in red wine, with bright green vegetables on the side. Both were fresh, and he could tell that they were not easy to find up here in the mountains. The plate in his hand had neither too much nor too little butter on it, and on the cloth in the basket was a loaf of freshly baked black bread. He reached for one of them.  
At that moment, Grindelwald suddenly spoke up.

'What do you think the young lady of Maledictus is up to now?'  
'Nagini.'  
He had reflexively said the name. Then he was struck by a shock, as if struck by lightning.  
Grindelwald smiled, his expression calm.  
'What was she like to you?'  
'...'  
A dark-haired friend.  
The one who shared the same time with him in the circus and in Paris. He hadn't thought about her in months. He had been trying not to remember...  
He rose from his chair and paced the room restlessly. He could see that Grindelwald was watching his back and following his every movement.  
After the meal and before leaving the room, Grindelwald said in a very casual tone.  
'There's a place I want to take you.'  
He knew that this was a continuation of the conversation they had just had.

Grindelwald walked down the mountain slope as if he were walking on a flat road. It was hard to believe that the man was wearing high heel boots. He struggled to keep up with Grindelwald, though he never lost sight of him.  
Their destination was a cave in the middle of the mountain. Before entering the cave, Grindelwald told him that it was called a salt mine. It was dug by man in the distant past for the purpose of mining rock salt, it was not uncommon in this region.  
The earth-colored walls seemed to be covered with a thin layer of ice. Beyond it, he could see what looked like a black shadow.  
He look closely, he could see intricately shaped letters that are engraved all the way to the back of the wall. There was a slope. He had no idea what lay beyond, deep in the mountains, into the darkness.  
'It's a natural Pensieve.'  
He frowned as he heard the unfamiliar words. It wasn't the first time he had ever been told of a tool or place unique to the wizarding world without warning. But He hadn't gotten used to it yet.  
He waited for Grindelwald explains.  
'It's a tool for sifting through memories, and making sense of them again.'  
He still didn't understand it. Suddenly, he felt something against his temple. It was Grindelwald's wand.  
Looking at at the man in front of him, he saw that Grindelwald had put his finger to his lips. A signal to be quiet.  
He had no choice but to obey silently.  
With the movement of the tip of the wand, a thin silver thread was drawn out from him. Taking for a while, Grindelwald gathered it into a thin vial appeared from somewhere. Finally, Grindelwald tapped the rim with the wand. A few grains of dull light emerged from inside, spreading and blending into the air of the cave.  
After a while, the entire wall began to glow with a silver light, and he began to hear what sounded like whispers from the back.  
He distanced himself from Grindelwald.  
'What have you done to me?'  
'To help you know your own self.'

He took the hand that was offered to him.  
He stared at the fingertips in silence.  
After a moment, he took the hand.  



	3. Chapter 3

III

He ran through the darkness of the night until his legs ached.  
He grabbed her hand and kept running.  
'Credence.'  
He was aware that the voice behind him was desperately trying to tell something. But there was no time to look back. He had to run. He had to get away from this place as soon as possible...  
'Credence!'  
After being called out several times, Credence finally came to a slow halt. Leaning against the wall, she breathed in pain. He found it had a tear in the hem of her dress and looked away, his eyes drawn to her thin wrist. He had grabbed it too hard and it was covered in red marks. So he stopped reaching out.  
He tried to think of something to say, something... but couldn't come up with anything.  
'...Sorry.'  
She was reading the name of the street a little further away. He couldn't tell if she heard him or not. He was relieved to see that she didn't seem bothered by it, and finally had time to look around.  
They had lost track of where they were. He had been running for so long with her.  
'Come.'  
By her hand, his hand was grabbed in the darkness. It was his turn to be pulled by.

A hand smaller than him.  
A smaller body than him. A slender body.

He saw a vision of the past running past him.  
'What is this?'  
'It's a memory from your past.'  
The answer came from Grindelwald, who was in front of him.  
He was in a cool, comforting darkness. The cave had disappeared, and he could see the brick walls and cobblestones under his feet. The scene spread out in front of him with a raw reality that he could almost touch. A hazy light appeared in some places. As he walked, he looked at them one by one. It seemed to be his memories floating in the air, and the outline of the scenery seemed to become clearer and more certain as he passed by. As he stared at Grindelwald's back, he thought back to what Grindelwald had said earlier.  
The hand that led him kept him in the present.  
  
A fake name. A fake story about himself.  
What he told about himself... not everything was a lie. But a lie was still a lie. He felt uncomfortable, as if he had become so bad person.  
After the noise died down and the streets were completely empty, he followed the circus troupe through narrow alleys and around many corners. As he walked into the tent at the far end of the street, attracting the attention of the circus performers. He had been repeating his story over and over in his head since yesterday evening. Mistakes are not allowed - that hope seemed to fade swiftly now.  
Wore a dirty laborer's jacket, and skinny, pale face was dark with stubble.  
A overweight man, the owner of the Circus Arcanus was gazing him rudely from top to bottom, all the while Credence was speaking. The tailcoat the owner had worn during the parade hung haphazardly on the back of his chair, and now he wore only a thin shirt.  
'What can you do?'  
As soon as he finished speaking, the owner of the Circus asked in a tone of disdain. Credence was at a loss for words. He stared at the face of the owner of the Circus... Skender.  
It was the eyes of person who was used to treating human like objects. It was as if the owner was judging him, and he wanted to get away from the blatantly entangling gaze, so Credence tensed up. Suddenly he couldn't breathe properly.  
The first thing that came to mind... was the power.  
But Credence had absolutely no intention of telling the others what he has.  
He was at such a loss for answers that he wanted to disappear.  
No one would help him if he kept quiet. His adopted sister, Modesty... wasn't here. Gone. He shook out his fuzzy head and persisted. He told Skender that he wanted to be allowed to live and work the circus until he arrived in Paris... Any job, he would do it. He said. There was no change in the gaze that stared at him scornfully, but he couldn't back down anymore.  
After a while, Skender told him the date when the circus would be leaving New York.  
December 26... was still almost two weeks away.  
'Come to port. If you haven't changed your mind by then.'  
A large owner turned his chair around and turned away as if the conversation was over. Credence didn't know if this worked, it seemed that there was nothing more he could do. He began to turn back slowly the road, which was plastered with posters and flyers. On the way, he passed by a few tents. Through the gaps between the cloths, he could hear the members of the circus whispering to each other behind him. A lurking laughter, a curious gaze .......  
It didn't bother Credence. He had been used to such things for a long time.  
He normally could...  
As he huddled against the wall, Credence strongly bit the inside of his cheek. A muffled voice echoed in the distance. It seemed to be laughing. Something was wrong, but no one noticed. It was also familiar with this feeling. Sweat began to trickle down his forehead. The ground was tilting oddly, and the view was becoming blacker and narrower.  
That's when it happened.  
Credence noticed a different kind of gaze. The dizziness vanished like a lie at that moment.  
It was a person - in the cage.

It was first time, his eyes met hers.

It was like looking in a mirror, he thought.  
On the other side of the mirror, there was someone who looked exactly like him. When he approached and stared at the scene, forgetting to blink, he found a different expression in her. He would never look like this, smile like this. He couln't make a caring expression like this. That's how he knew that even though two-person looked alike, he and she were different.  
To be different was to be unacceptable, for him.  
When he thought that, a man reached out to him.  
When he thought that, he was betrayed. The despair that he felt at that moment, as if he had been thrown to the bottom, was unbearable, and the pain he felt was not something he could forget even if he wanted to. He was going to live his life without having anything to do with people again.  
That was what he had decided.

'Nagini.'  
He whispered.

The scene had changed. Credence had looked at the red-rusted iron fences.  
His eyes followed the words on a frightening picture of a woman that coiled around a giant snake, attached to the side of the cage. It was an unfamiliar word. There was no indication of how to read it. He had no choice but to roll the words around in his head, and slowly try to form them into sounds one by one.  
'...Maledictus?'  
'Nagini.'  
He could hear the words that came back to him. But he was confused by that sound. He didn't immediately recognize it as a name. It was a very unfamiliar accent to him. "Nagini." That was her real name, she said so in English.  
'And what’s your name?'  
'...’  
Credence didn't know what to say. The fake name he had given to himself that Skender and the members of the circus knew... but he felt like there was something different about saying it here and now. He stared at her face for a moment, and without saying a word, he left.  
He could see the confusion swirling beneath the hollow expression of old him.

He was slowly beginning to remember.

He thought he couldn't trust her. "How can I trust her?"   
He remember thinking that very clearly.  
For him, it was necessary to hide out where no one would know and let his body heal. He needed a lot of time. It was his own wound. It was his own, that he had thing finally found. He had finally found a place where he could settle down. Nevertheless, he felt as if he had suddenly encountered someone - the invader other than himself.  
He could have shaken it off, he could have run away.  
But he couldn't continue to ignore her. Her figure locked in the cage was so familiar to him.

He had saw himself in her place.

'Tell me your name, please.'  
The dishes shook. He looked at the hem of his jacket Nagini was grabbing. He looked that again, and he moved his eyes to look at her face through the fences. Her face looked pleading. A new worker's fake name - she had already known that.   
"Could she be trusted?" He hesitated for a long time, then opened his mouth cautiously.

'Credence.'

"Credence." He felt a strange sensation tingle in the back of his throat. Credence. Someone call him that in a long time, he thought.   
Nagini was looking at Credence from the cage. For some reason, she seemed relieved to see him. Her dark eyes were as gentle as he first thought they would be. There seemed to be no malice in them. He moved his eyes as far as they would go, and for the first time, he could clearly see her appearance.  
Her braided black hair was pulled into a single bun. The color of her skin and the structure of her face were completely different from his own. He had seen people in New York from time to time. The navy blue dress she was wearing had an unusual shape, through the gap, upper arms and the skin were exposed.  
He turned his head away, realizing that he had been staring at her for some time.  
'But... no.'  
This time, he got a curious look in return from her. He frowned and bit his back teeth. "I shouldn't have said that." He wondered why didn't he just reply lightly and get it over with...  
  
'I'm looking for... the real name.'

The muttered voice were like himself.

This was the first time Credence had told the purpose of his journey.  
The reason why he was still clinging to life, no matter how miserable or painful it was.  
It was from that moment on. At this moment that Credence started to talk to Nagini at a certain time in the midnight.  
It must not have been a promise.

"Hey, wake up!  
A stick slammed into his pillow, which was just a log with a cloth wrapped around it, and an angry voice echoed in his shaking head. Shaking his heavy head, Credence sluggishly got up. He had to wake up early at the circus. After polishing the floor of the stage, he fed the beasts and cooked three meals a day for the members of the circus. There were now several scullery workers in addition to Credence, who must have gotten them from somewhere after they got off the ship. However, not enough people to cover the entire circus.  
Sometimes he wished, he could use magic.  
Just like the House-elves. With a snap of his fingers, he can assemble a tent and even clean up after a performance in an instant.  
The beasts in the circus were gathered from all over the world.  
Not only the beasts, but also the members came from all over the world. Not only did they come from Europe, but also from Australia, India ...... and other parts of the world. It was not easy to communicate with them, but Credence soon learned what that they called him.  
"Squib."

He ran away from the words and the chilling eyes.  
It was still dark when he woke up, sweating, and he laid his head down on the hard pillow again, closing his eyes tightly until dawn. In the darkness, he could see a narrow staircase and the silhouette of a man looking back at him.  
He could not fall asleep again.

At night, Credence approached the group gathered around the magical fire. Then, a few of them left from the place in silence. They kept Credence at a distance because he had never told them his true identity. He didn't mind that, as he had no intention of getting involved. Credence chosed one of the group members. A member that With a distinctive nose that resembled a pig. He had never spoken to this guy, and he did not know this guy's name. He didn't care, as long as they did say the truth.  
He asked, 'Can you tell me how long it will take to get to Paris, please?'  
With a dumbfounded expression, this guy who was asked looked at Credence's face. There was silence for a moment, and then everyone around the fire burst into laughter. Credence stood still. At the time, he didn't know why they were laughing at him. Later, he realized that nobody used such polite language in the circus.  
'A Half year.'  
A face reddened with alcohol approached him.  
As if enjoying Credence's shocked reaction, the pig-nose guy said. The canine teeth, sharp as fangs, were bared.  
'We landed in Le Havre and will go on tour around France. Paris at the end.'  
He turned around to see Skender standing behind him. The glow of the red flames made the owner look twice as big as he was.  
'...'  
'I wasn't lied to you.'  
No rebuttals were allowed.  
Credence wondered that night what he should do. Would he be able to walk to Paris? What should he do if he fall down on the way to?  
He continued to think about it until dawn, but came to no conclusion.  
In the end, he would have to stay quiet until he arrived in Paris.

The red and black striped cloth swayed. The cage was separated from the outside by a dull-colored curtain. The fabric was tired, just like the tents of the other members of the circus. Still, the environment inside was cozy and comfortable, it was more comfortable than the other. He wondered, as this Skender's way of being considerate?  
Credence stopped to think about it. It was no use thinking about it.  
Nagini was on the mattress, Credence was sitting on the ground. They usually sat next to each other over the iron fence, whispering to each other.  
She said she had never been outside since she came to the circus.  
Actually, "She came to the circis." was not the right word. Credence heard the story of that time directly from her mouth. She lived with her mother, hiding in the depths of the jungle. They had been hunted by hunters and had finally been caught. Nagini was separated from her mother. Then she was sold to Skender.  
'I was brought here when I was still small.'  
'...Do you want to see your mother?' He asked, and she nodded.  
He and she had never really talked about it before. Never talked about anything like that before. Sometimes it was a series of mumbled words that barely amounted to a conversation, and other times it was a long time before they broke their silent. While listening her story, Credence realized that she, also wanted to hear about his story. He couldn't pretend not to notice anymore.  
He didn't know where to start.  
"I killed the people who raised me. And my adopted mother and sister, also killed one other person... and went around destroying the city."  
Nagini seemed to wanted to know other things about him.  
More importantly, that was what he wanted to know, too.  
The only thing he could say was that when he was driven by strong emotions, this power would come up as an urge from deep within his body. He didn't want to think about what had happened when he couldn't or wouldn't control it even now. Want to be known - he didn't feel that way about her. At least not at the moment.  
'Look.'  
'...?' Nagini breathed on the chilly fence and slid her fingers across it. The warmth of her skin forms the letters.  
mère  
'What?'  
'It means "Mother."'  
In this country's language, she told him so.  
There was a name that he always think of before he crawl into his given bed and fall asleep. Irma Dugard... the name on his adoption paper. A woman's name...  
Mother.  
Credence repeated, without saying it aloud. He imagined the unknown person's calm gaze. Falling asleep into the dream, he didn't feel any fear on that day.

'I'm afraid to go to sleep at night.'  
Then Nagini gave him a lonely look. The way she touched the bracelet on her wrist seemed to come from unconsciousness. It must have been the first time she had told anyone about this. Her downcast eyes were darker than ever.  
'The time will come, when I don't know who I am.'  
"I will become a monster that only hurts people. As I continue to transform, one day, I will not be able to return. When? I don't know. It could be today. The next time I wake up, I may not be myself anymore."  
Credence couldn't find the words to say, and felt as if he finally caught what he had felt when he saw her.

Bouncing. Dancing. Breathing fire.  
One by one, the members of the circus appeared on the stage, performing one magical trick after another. They jumped up into the air and kept spinning, wrapped in magical bubbles, and floated as if swimming in the air. The curtain, wrapped in glittering fireworks and joyful flute sounds, hides violence and contempt underneath, but everyone pretends not to see it.  
After half-year of work, he knew it all too well.  
He wanted to turn hsi back on it, and yet, He wanted to go to somewhere...  
He wondered why he was so drawn to it at a moment's notice. Sitting in the corner of the stage, Credence stared blankly at the performance on the stage. He was allowed to rest until then, as he had a purchase from a vendor later that night.  
Since a day was a holiday and there was a good crowd, the stage was set up more spacious.  
A troupe member by the name of Nigel Le Narcisi was bouncing around. As the name "Homo Amphobia" implied, the member was a small creature with a harsh green body covered with coarse scales like a reptile. It looked like a baby or a lizard standing on its hind legs as it run around swiftly.  
With the sound of a bugle blown by his assistant, a large man appeared, the heights reaching the ceiling of the tent. The man made a sound like the rumbling of the earth and walked around the stage with his huge, wart-covered feet, then did a somersault, gor on the ball, and circled around again in the same way. The performar's hands were the same size as a normal human's, yet somehow he never lost his balance.  
Next, twins with shoulders and stomachs connected appeared on stage.  
It was not the first time he had seen deformed twins; he had seen them in the flyers of regular circuses when he was in New York. But the twins in the wizard's circus were even stranger. Their pointed ears were twice as long as normal humans. Their claws were sharp like birds of prey, and when they opened their adorable little lips, their mouths were full of strong teeth, even though they were still just babies. It was said that they were found by chance after their mother abandoned them in the river shortly after birth. They chewed through the scrap iron that customers threw at them one after another for fun, tearing it with their nails as easily as ripping paper. The joyful laughter of the babies filled the inner tent.  
At some time, Nigel's singing voice intertwined with their laughter. It was a Gaelic folk song, if he was to believe the dubious Skender's description. The audience, listening to his somewhat out-of-tune and cheerful voice, shouted in unison.  
Suddenly, silence.  
Credence could see her advancing from the opposite road. Skender walked around the perimeter of the cage, making usual grand gestures. The usual chatter followed, and then he saw the owner raise his walking stick to signal Nagini.  
Nagini slumped down from its strange position, eyes closed and body hugging, and quickly transformed into the form of a brown snake. She crawled around the stage, making menacing noises, bared her fangs, and circled the stage, lolling her tongue threateningly. After a moment, Skender gave her the signal once more.  
She returned to the center of the cage. Then she began to transform again...  
The snake's scales faded and it turned into human skin. The eyes of a beast returned to the eyes of a human. The eyes now reflected the faces of the audiences with curiosity, fear and pity.  
Eventually, her and his eyes met.  
In the midnight, as usual. In the usual place.  
Credence knew what words she wanted to hear.  
'I'm not afraid of you.'  
The woman in front of him looked surprised. He didn't think he could say that before, that's why he could say it at this moment. He reached out his fingers and stiffly touched her finger. The tips of her slender fingers were a different color than his own. And yet, he thought, they were very similar.  
'Because we are the same.'  
He meditated thinly, put her surprised face out of his mind for the moment and concentrated. He press his hand against the iron fence and hold right hand up.  
Something like a black mist flows out from inside his body. From his palms, from his fingertips. He didn't know what would happen if he touched her. So he tried not to touch anything. Gently and carefully, so as not to destroy anything. It went through the gap in the cage and slowly circled around Nagini, her eyes wide with surprise. A shiver ran through his fingertips. The tremble was transmitted and stretched. He was sure the figure unshapely shrank and scattered. But this was "me"... It became impossible to grasp. The shape began to blur and waver. He stayed calm his mind as much as possible, and carefully and slowly pulled it back. It was like wading through a net. The hazy mass that had become like a part of his body disappeared into his palm.  
Suddenly, he felt something warm on his cheek.  
When he opened his eyes and realized it was the touch of her palm, he saw that she was smiling happily. Tears were glistening on the edges of her black eyes. They were like raindrops.  
He thought those tears were beautiful.

With the sound of drums, a richly decorated elephant went down the road. Confetti was scattered to welcome them. The circus had finally arrived in Paris. The success of the road trip, the expectations of the wizards living in Paris had been raised even higher. Fliers were spread everywhere and posters were put up in stores. Skender set up his tent in the central square, the most conspicuous in Place Cachée, and started his business with great enthusiasm.  
The hours for buying were strictly enforced. Without stopping, Credence observed the streets in Paris, which were different from those of New York or any other city he had passed through. He watched the people on the street. "Do you know a woman named Irma Dugard?" He wanted to ask around, but he couldn't do that. He had to return back his only place when the sun went down.  
He went down one flight of stairs and then another. He was already in front of the statue.  
Suddenly, Credence stopped in his tracks. "Only place - Is it really true?" 

It wouldn't be hard to escape if he was alone. He remembered thinking that.

He stared at Credence's back, his own, in the past.

The sugar grains changed shape as they passed through the tube, becoming a pale pink cloud-like mass that transformed into the shape the children had imagined in their mind. Pigs, Elephants, Hippogriffs, Oni, Kappa, Zouwu... Credence passed beside them by quickly, avoiding the cheers of the children who were frolicking around with cotton candy in their hands. A wooden box that he handed to a member of the circus offstage was chirping incessantly. Inside was a baby beasts for the next performance. He didn't know what kind of beasts they were.  
A baby.  
He didn't know.  
He didn't know if he like... or not.  
He thought, he had to protect them. He thought... and he should take care of them even if he have to sacrifice himself.  
That's what his adopted mother taught him.  
After the performance was over, he overheard an exchange between the members. "We can't use it for the next performance." So they were going to throw "it" away in the woods... Credence turned on his heel.  
Whatever they were talking about, he didn't want to hear that.  
Credence watched the backs of the children of the circus, who looked more excited than usual, as they rushed out into the street, flyers in hand. They must be no more than ten years old. He wondered how much freedom they would get.  
Most of the children in the circus were orphans.  
They were orphans who had no one to take care of them. Skender welcomed them, had fed them, and had used to them as publicity agents.

The members of the circus had little entertainment. Skender provided them with alcohol and cigarettes as a favor, and suspicious drugs from who knows where. Those who could read found enjoyment in scraps of newspaper found on the street.  
"Gellert Grindelwald has escaped." In his tent, Credence overheard a member who could read French said excitedly. It happened during the transfer. "Where is Grindelwald?" "Maybe he'll show up in Paris." The accent that followed was so thick that he couldn't make out the details. They seemed to be talking amongst themselves.  
As Credence crawled into bed, he could think about was quickly falling asleep.  
He didn't want to think about anything else right now.

Inside the spherical birdcage were the Firedrakes were constantly flying around the small cage, sparks flying from their tails. It had been more than a half year since Credence started taking care of them. He didn't get pecked or burned anymore.  
As he tossed a little food through the crack, he whisper to Nagini in the next room, which was surrounded by a cage. Ever since Skender caught him talking to her in the midnight, it had been getting harder and harder to talk to her. Even though he couldn't see her, but he knew she had listening intently. She liked to listen to what was going on out there... Credence's eyes had caught sight of the man who had come in a short while ago. And the man was huddled in the aisle, sluggishly walking out again to get some water now.  
When he was sure there was no one else in the room, he whispered softly.  
'...I'll out of here.'  
The silence continued. Credence glanced down the aisle again. He still have to clean the Zouwu's cage today. It would look suspicious... if he stayed here too long. With a bucket under his arm and a brush in his hand, he made a gap of the curtains just a little.  
'Come with me.'  
The expression on Nagini's face that he saw for a moment through the gap was full of surprise. Credence realized after he said it that he had made up his mind to do so before.  
He had decided his mind some time ago. He didn't know when.  
But he knew that the time was approaching.

Looking at the birds resting on their perches in the birdcage, Credence waited. The person he was waiting for had not yet appeared. Alone, by the bird market. The appointed dusk was approaching. If he didn't return to the circus on time, he would be yelled at by the owner. The person might pass him by while he was sitting somewhere. In the meantime, a lot of shoes had crossed in front of him.  
They pass by, and then they pass by...  
Eventually, he saw one of them approaching him.  
'Credence Barebone.'  
He looked up at the unfamiliar low voice. There was a man standing in front of him. It was a dark-skinned man wearing a hat. He was dressed in a knee-length cape, and his hands were covered with black leather gloves. Credence stared at the man who had suddenly appeared in front of him. He was feeling both relieved and slightly disappointed that his expectations had been wrong. The man who had sent him the note. A long, thin wooden stick, visible for a moment under his cape. It indicated that the man was a wizard.  
There was silence for a while, and then the man opened his mouth.  
'I have a message for you.'  
He didn't need to ask who he was talking about. There was only one person he could think of who had business with him in this world. "Grindelwald."  
He glared at the man and took the offered piece of paper, pinching it with the tip of his finger. The man's face seemed to smile for a moment at his discretion.  
'And this is a gift from him.'  
Credence felt something very light in his palm. It was moving... It had a temperature. When he looked at it again, he realized that it was a bird. A small baby bird. It opened the beak, and tilted the head as if to greet him. He looked at the man for an explanation, but the man said nothing.  
Then, there was nothing to talk about. Credence tucked the baby bird inside his jacket and walked back the way he came.  
He looked back over his shoulder only once, but the man was still there.

The man's name is Nagel. He knew that now.

All of a sudden, the hand he had was tight. Something Grindelwald wanted to call his attention to... He was suddenly pulled back to reality, was irritated him, but he looked at the place where Grindelwald is pointing.

One of those nondescript birdcage was there. The door opened without any wind, and a dull-colored bird came out from inside. A bird took the step at a time, as looking around. Then the bird flew away in front of him.  
It circled as if scouting the sky. And then...  
In the alleyway where the bird landed, to his surprise, it was transformed into a man wearing a hat with feathers. It was only a brief moment. While passengers were passing by. Dark skin. Dark blue coat. He was staring with unusual eagerness at Credence was going to return back to the circus.  
He was familiar with the man's figure which he never took his eyes off.  
It was the man he had met at the Père Lachaise cemetery. The man's name is...

'Yusuf Kama.'  
'...'  
'You should remember that.'  
He had a lot of questions. There were so many questions he wanted to ask, but he couldn't allow to stop walking.  
Grindelwald didn't stop, but took him by the hand and went on.  
He continued to walk with Grindelwald through the light of his memories.  
Credence and Nagini had run away from the circus after causing a commotion during an evening performance... He remembered. The way she looked back at him in the morning sunshine of Paris. Touching the back of her hand, the feel of his lips when he put it, The warmth of her hand on his back, as if touching something precious, made him realize that he didn't have to keep running. Those dazzling moments had passed.  
And now, he was looking at the collapsed apartment.

It began and ended.  
’The Ministry of Magic are coming.’  
Eventually she said this with a clouded face. Credence nodded silently.  
He knew that he had to leave here. Still, it was hard to leave. He looked down at the wreckage that had been the walls and ceiling. There was way he could... bury the cold corpse of Irma. Instead, he kneeled down near Nagini, and he followed her praying posture. He closed his eyes and clasped his hands together. He thought about lost days.  
What he should get here. What he had gained instead of lost. Everything was back to square one.  
He didn't speak any more questions once they were back at their apartment.  
The time finally did not come. There was nothing to say, time just passed. Looking down at the city of Paris from the roof, Credence relaxed his shoulders a little and looked down again. He felt her heat from next. She is beside him without saying a word. Her palm touches the back of his thrown out hand. When he lifted his eyes and slowly looked at her, there was her usual caring expression on her face.  
Nothing.  
Nothing had changed. Nagini is trying to understand Credence in her own way always.

That's why he couldn't tell her something.

It was the middle of the night.  
Unable to sleep, Credence rolled over for the umpteenth time. When he opened her eyelids, the curves of Nagini's body appeared white in the darkness beside her. She breathed regularly in her sleep. He wondered if it was his imagination, but she seemed to be sleeping much deeper than last night.  
Credence remembered, in alley, the smoothness and softness of the skin he had touched with his lips. It had only been a half day since then, but he felt as if he had come a long way.  
Somehow, he had reached out to her. She had the same black hair as him, but hers was thinner and softer.  
'Nagini.'  
Clinging to the name Irma Dugard, he had been running for a long time. The track he thought he had finally found went away with a brief... warmth. He never did find out where his real mother was.  
He didn't want to think about it now.  
It was something he had avoided thinking about for a long time. What if... If she had already gone, what should he live for from now on? "Will we both find it someday? That's something..."  
He had never thought about it before. He wondered, what would happen if he and she just threw it all away, and ran away? "In a land where no one knows about us, from the beginning again..."

\--Killer.

It was a voice that echoed from inside his body. That night Credence had a nightmare, as if affected by countless whispers that threatened him. Everything he saw was attacked by a black mist. Everything he touched became ugly, shriveled, and blackened. He could no longer be human. He let his impulses take over and continued to beat them down.  
She was there.  
He was about to bite into the soft skin with his fangs when he came back to his senses.  
'...'  
'Credence?'  
There was light shining in from outside. He had heard her voice.  
He breathed on his shoulder. Her voice, bright and carefree, was too bright and distant.

Sin seemed to follow Credence forever and ever.

Grindelwald, who had his back turned to us, was shaking slowly his head.   
He gazed over Grindelwald's shoulder at her figure ahead of him. Nagini was threatening against the man who appeared without warning with her whole body. Several black veils fluttered in the cloudy sky. It was painfully obvious to him what was making her do that. There was a presence of fear in her expression, the tension in her limbs. She was about to change her form. However, there was no chance of winning. She just need to buy some time. "Attack this man and bite in the throat..."  
Nothing happened.  
'You'd better not. Credence will be sad.'  
She stopped moving immediately. He could see the confusion and agitation on her face. She was clearly lost.  
After a few moments of silence, Grindelwald slowly smiled.  
'I need to speak with him.'

He looked down at the map of the Père Lachaise cemetery.  
'I must go.'  
He stared at Credence's back. Credence is walking down the roof after to say one short word.  
He could remember clearly even the dry touch of the map in his grip. Of course it could be a trap. There would be dangerous, of course. But if Credence went here... he could get the answers he was looking for. He didn't doubt it, didn't care what happened after he would arrive. Once he had achieved his goal, even his life is spared.  
He couldn't think of anything else.

"That's enough." As if reading the voice in his mind, Grindelwald turned around to him.  
That's when the tip of his shoe struck something. It was a dead end. Knowing that he could not go any further, he turned on his heel this time. He turned around and tried to run back the way he had come to the exit, which looked like a small dot in the distance.  
Certainly, he tried to do so, but he was held back.  
A dead end. With a strong force, Grindelwald carried him beyond that place, further.

How far he had walked? He couldn't understand.   
He blinked and looked around, and realized after a while that he had crossed some kind of boundary.  
He moved his feet slowly. He hadn't realized until then that he could move freely in his dim memories of the past. There was no sound of stepping shoes, and even the outline of his body was vague, but he approached step by step, at first with being prompted... and then he looked at Nagini’s face on his own initiative.   
Even when he came to the front, even when he sat down and tried to make eye contact with her, she still held her knees. His voice did not reach her. At this time, memories were like that for them. Something visible, but never touch. He hadn't thought about what expression she had on her face at this moment.  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Actually, I'm not really interested in the relationship of Credini to be settled along romance lines. In their matter, what most interested in is how the connection between Credence and someone will be handled. Maybe that's what it is. I mean so. Anyway I think the best time for Credence and Nagini was flowing over the roof in the morning. For me, they are two-person who need to be complemented too. Just like CBGG.


	4. Chapter 4

IV

Before he knew it, the inside of the cave had returned to its original color of earth. Nagini's figure had vanished without a trace, and he continued to stare at it as he knelt down. He continued to stare across the empty darkness.  
'She's now with Scamander's people.'  
Grindelwald's voice came from behind him.  
'Since when?'  
His mouth was dry. The base of his tongue was completely stiff, and it took a long time for the question to roll out as a voice. His ears perked up as he waited for an answer.  
'It was shortly after you came to the castle.'  
He stared at the ground of the cave.  
"Why didn't you tell me right away..." He pressed his clenched fist into the ground so hard that it hurt, but it did not wipe away the shock of what he had just heard.  
'What would you have done if you had known?'  
'...'  
He wondered what he would have done.  
He looked down. It was as if a pebble had been stuffed down his throat. He couldn't bring himself to say anything. He didn't want to... think about it, at least not right now. Grindelwald did not say anything anymore, whether he realized it or not.  
It had been a long time since he left that underground cemetery. Scamander's companions and Nagini are together. That meant that the man, Albus Dumbledore, had found out about Nagini. In Paris, Nagini was with Credence the whole time. It was hard to believe that Dumbledore would just leave her alone.  
Biting his lip, he stared into the depths of the cave. There was darkness between the stone pillars. The only thing keeping him from seeing was the light coming through a small crack in the ground that covered the cave. But gradually, the light faded, and soon there was not a ray of light to be seen.  
He stared at it helplessly.  
'Aurelius.'  
Grindelwald stood behind him with a light on the tip of his wand. It was time for him to leave. He knew that he could not stay here forever. There was nothing here anymore. There was no one here. But as Grindelwald took him by the hand and led him back the way he had come, he felt as if he could still see Nagini there.  
She turned her face down.  
He couldn't remenber on the way to the castle.

18 rue Philippe Lorand. The sign given.  
'You'll find her.'  
He stared at the man standing in the dark, aware of the note he had rolled up and shoved in his trouser pocket.  
"Think about it." the man whispered.  
'Is it really what you are seeking for or not?'  
The lingering whisper was unlike anything he had ever heard, yet it reminded him of something - he had heard before. The man's figure blended into the darkness under the bridge even though it was late afternoon. No time was specified anywhere in the note. There was nothing else that could be a clue. It was strange that the man had just appeared in front of him, but he was no longer surprised.  
It wasn't just his imagination... The temperature seemed to have dropped. He stepped out of the darkness under the bridge and walked to the sunlight again. He couldn't make out the eyes and nose of the man standing against the wall, but he knew.  
He was being watched. Every inch of his body, from the tips of his toes to the top of his head.  
He shuddered and realized now that he had left his jacket at the circus. But, too late...  
He kept going, conscious of Nagini's thin fingers on his arm.  
He had no choice.

Or maybe not even now.

With the sound of his shoes, the white light shining in the passage approached him.  
The light on the tip of his cane illuminated the rows of bookshelves. As he looked up at the face that had emerged from the darkness, he was unsure of his own emotions. First of all, Grindelwald seemed to have no intention to point out. About him leaving his room late at night to come to the library. Grindelwald was standing next to his desk, looking down at him. He waited and waited, but the silence did not break, and eventually he grew numb and opened his mouth.  
'I want to know about... a blood curse.'  
Maledictus. He had been told by Nagini that in the wizarding world that's what peple call those who have been cursed with blood. Those who are cursed will eventually be consumed all over their body and take the form of a snake... He didn't know anything more about it.  
'How is it different from animagus?'  
'You already have the answer.'  
He thought about the meaning of Grindelwald's these words. He already had known the difference between transforming into an Animagus and transforming into an animal. Wizards cannot retain their humanity while transformed into an animal, but animagus are different. They may look the same, but inside their bodies, they retain their human intentions, which is why they can return to their original form on their own. However, as far as he could remember... Nagini had also become a snake by her own will, and it seemed to him that she had returned to human form by her own will, too. When she was in the circus, when she had run away from the place, and when she had come back with bread.  
The only exception was when she had fallen asleep. Just before she turned into the body of a snake, she was breathing slightly in her sleep. She turned her back on him and looked frightened just before she fell asleep.  
"The next time I wake up, I may not be myself anymore."  
'She won't be herself while she was asleep...'  
He muttered. It was the feeling that he had experienced himself before. The memory of the moment before and after the moment when he couldn't control it was always dim or missing. ”Why do I notice it now at?”  
'All living things have the power to return to the way they should be.'  
He clutched the edge of the book that had been left open in his hand. Even if wizards can't return to human from animal form, they will return to their original form once all the magic is gone in their bodies. He reflectively looked up at Grindelwald.  
'For Maledictus, the state of the beast is their true form. As time goes by, their flesh will literally become their prison... and eventually they will not even remember who they once were.'  
Before the story of Grindelwald ends, he was on his feet. He heard the chair fall with a mighty crash, but it didn't matter. He grabbed the man in front of him by the chest, letting the anger swirling blackly in his chest take over.  
He didn't want to hear it, no matter how immovable the truth was.  
With such a flat face.  
And In a matter-of-fact voice, Grindelwad said.

'You should bring her to me before that happens.'  
He looked at Grindelwald.  
For a moment, he hadn't know what he had been told.

When Queenie Goldstein turned around him, her expression was seriously hard. Just before she got out of her chair and turned to face him, his eyes did not miss a piece of paper on the desk that had been casually turned over. It was like some kind of list. He could guess that's why her face like this, but it didn't matter. He hadn't come this room to make small talk.  
He wanted to know if Goldstein had ever looked into the mind of Grindelwald.  
That's all he wanted to ask.  
He didn't want to look her straight in the eye. Instead, he focused his attention on the picture frame on the wall and waited for her response. She was silent. He thought, she wasn't thinking, nor was she waiting for his next words. He hated the fact that it was so obvious that she was reading his mind. But even so, he couldn't just walk away until he had served his purpose. After a while, Goldstein said.  
'Sorry... I can't give you the answer you want.'  
A tuft of golden curly hair swayed from side to side as he looked at her. Shaking her head, she continued.  
'This power is not universal. Only he can know what he was thinking when he took you outside...'  
Then she broke off. It was as if she was holding something back, he thought. She seemed to know something he didn't, but for some reason he hesitated to question her. After a long moment of silence, she said only one thing.  
'You should talk to him.'  
Looking into her eyes, he couldn't answer.  
He walked away, leaving Queenie Goldstein on the other side of the thick door panel.

'Have you ever seen the sea?' She said.  
The sea breeze brought the smell to him on deck. He heard the gulls crying and the waves crashing against the ship somewhere far below. She wanted to hear about everything that happened during a sea trip, even the little things. As much as possible, he didn't want to remember what he lived in New York. And then, he shook off the few scenes that bled out of my memory and told her everything he could think of.  
It’s different from a puddle, much deeper and anyone can't see the bottom. Water flows in, gathers, and slowly flows out again somewhere else. Salt comes from the sea. it's probably salty...  
"You want to hear such a story?" He didn't know.  
'Tell me.'  
He slowly lifted his eyes and looked into her face, her expression was bright. If she didn't want to hear the rest of the story, she probably won't look like this... Then he remembered that he hadn't told about the size of the sea yet.  
The size of the ship he had seen just before he boarded at the port. How many people were on board, and how many cars and cargo were being lifted and loaded up close. The deck was much larger than he had imagined, but smaller than the sea.  
'The sky and the sea, all I could see.'  
'When was the first time you went on... a ship?'  
'...I don't know.'  
That was the first time he set foot in a port... maybe at that time. He thoght.  
'Maybe you just don't remember.' She said.  
He really didn't know, so he kept quiet. Had someone before - a woman named Irma Dugard... or his real mother taken him across the sea in the same way?  
When he woke up in the middle of the night and felt a vibration from under the floor that he had never experienced before. The year had changed on the sea. Arriving in France just as he was finally getting used to the erratic rocking of the ship. Seeing the approaching land from afar. The crowds of people in the harbor and the cheers that greeted the passengers were getting closer and closer, and he could clearly see each face that he could only vaguely make out from afar.  
'I want to see.' she said.  
That wish would never come true, he thought. Not as long as... she was tied up the cage like this.

There were some scenes that kept coming back to him.  
From the other side of the wooden fence, several dirty, soot-blackened hands reached out. He could undestand they were workers. They were moving their mouths rapidly, exposing their uneven teeth. They were shouting something at him. Probably at him. Or... to someone who has earned the right to go somewhere other than here.  
The unlucky ones who didn't make the cut are flocking to him, looking at him with envy.  
But he was not moved by any of this.  
There was only another creatures there, not worthy of mercy. The same people who had surrounded him like a thick wall before, people who had nothing to do with him.  
He hadn't changed since then.  
In spite of this, his heart was beating very loudly. His view was shaking on the bed, even though he was not on the sea.  
The reverberations of the words he had heard just before... he came awake were still ringing in his ears.  
"Are you happy now?

There was a long table in a white, high-ceilinged room with sunlight streaming in. It was covered with a pure white tablecloth that reached all the way to the floor, the edges of which were delicately embroidered with gold thread.  
Also today, there were only two people at the table.  
The sound of dishes echoed regularly in the room.  
He wrenched a snarl from his throat. Grindelwald continued to eat. There was no way Grindelwald hadn't noticed. And yet, said nothing. He finally let out a scream and knocked something off the table.  
Whatever it was.  
Anything to stop the regularly sound that went on and on.  
White dishes and shattered pieces stood still in the air. Vegetables, meat, and even a grain of spattered gravy were completely frozen in time. As soon as Grindelwald waved his aligned fingertips, they drifted back up and down on the table and all settled back into place in front of his eyes.  
It was as if nothing had happened.  
He pressed his cheek against the table and breathed hard.  
He heard the sound of a chair being pulled out. He kept his face down, his eyes wide and unmoving. The fabric is white and smooth, with a fine weave. With the sound of footsteps, a presence approaches and eventually stands next to him. He took his time and slowly raised his eyes. As if challenging against Grindelwald, he twisted the standing figure into his own view.

'Aurelius. What's wrong with you?'  
'...'

What's wrong with him?

Every time he came awake, he was thinking about it.  
The sumptuous food, the spacious, clean bed. A comfortable life where nothing is too much trouble. The view from his bed in his room was always neat and perfect. There was not a single stain on the pristine white ceiling, and no matter how hard he looked, there was not even a hint of a cobweb. The window sills were always a pristine white. This was a sign that someone was cleaning the windows every day without fail and polishing every corner. If not, it would be covered day by day with a layer of dust that would eventually come into his view as an unnoticeable stain.  
But such a day would never come.  
It would never happen. Because someone else was doing the work, for him. Unseen by him. Somebody, somewhere. Someone else was doing what Credence had used to do. A boring, mundane job that anyone could do.  
Who could have forced him to do such an unreasonable thing? What authority did someone have to do that?  
He will not have to go through that again at... He would never be made to feel uncomfortable again. Aurelius Dumbledore is protected, and he didn't have to do anything to stay here.  
Even though he had killed a man.  
Why would that be wrong?  
Aurelius Dumbledore's place and name had long been taken from him by his enemies. Not content with that, they had continued to take.  
What is wrong with that?   
Why is it wrong? Every time he thought about it, he couldn't take a step forward.

The trees around him blended into the darkness.  
In contrast to the surrounding trees that blended into the darkness, the vacancy was only slightly brighter. The grayish color seemed to reflect his current state of mind.  
He felt like he had been standing in the same place for a long time now. It was strange that there was still ground to tread on. Would he be able to get there if he continued to ride on Thestral's back? How far... he wondered. Even now, the castle seemed to be as safe and comfortable as Grindelwald had said it would be, and nothing seemed to be missing. Would it be worth it, he thought, to abandon this castle and go to...  
Is it worth seeking?

He should have been fulfilled.  
He had gotten his name, his place, everything he had been looking for. And yet, somehow, there is a void in his heart.  
'You've left someone important behind too, haven't you?'  
In his head, Queenie Goldstein's voice on the other side of the door, and it suddenly came back to him.  
Reaching out with his fingertips, he touched his cheek. Surprised by the identity of what was running down his cheek, he almost pushed it away, and once again reeled in each past he had passed through. All of his memories were connected to her name. Her real name.

'Nagini is...'

He wondered, what Nagini is thinking.  
What is she thinking now, face down, knees in her hands? What she was thinking as she shed tears...

"Do you want to see her?  
A voice broke through his thoughts. He looked up at the question, and before he knew it, Grindelwald was close by. The belt he had used as reins was still in his hand. Thestral was standing beside him, her head tilted slightly, as if she was watching him closely.  
As if she was waiting for him to make a choice.  
Grindelwald's eyes twinkled in the starlight even in the darkness, and his expression gave him the impression that he was softer than usual. Perhaps that was why he was able to nod his head naturally.  
He lowered his eyes and thought about Nagini.  
'What should I do?'  
Even if he could find her, he didn't know what would happen next. What if it would make things much worse?  
'It's your choice. Whatever you choose, I promise I will help you.'  
'...What will happen to Nagini?'  
'She will not be in danger for the time being. Dumbledore is only after you.'  
Each word echoed in his head, slowly seeping through. He turned his head. But there was still the matter at hand. There was nothing he could do about it, he couldn't even imagine if there was such a thing.  
As he raised his eyes to cling, his eyes met Grindelwald's. - "I know a way to break the blood curse."  
He thought could he trust those words.

'What do you want to do?' asked Grindelwald.

One day Nagini would lost herself. She told him that the time would come. She always had a caring look on her face. Even though she sytayed in a cage, she never gave in to Skender, any situation.  
She is a mentally strong person. That's what he thought .......  
Who was it that had left her behind? He heard an accusatory scream from the darkness. He was already aware of the voice that only he could hear. To her, he might as well be someone she doesn't care about. But... it didn't matter anymore to him. Through the multiple layers of pain, the words spilled out of his lips with a sob.

'I want to save her.'

He understood now what Grindelwald had meant when he whispered, "To help you know your own self." He was fulfilled. After years of running and running. Just as he had done all the time he had lived in New York.  
Out of the corner of his eye, he heard a nod. The arms around his back pulled him into a hug, and the feeling was the same as before. The hand stroking his hair was gentle, and he continued to cry. Grindelwald didn't say a word.  
"Could I do it?" The voice echoed incessantly from the bottom of his heart, and soon the whispers slowly overlapped, shaking the air. 'You'll do.'  
'You are the one who can save someone.'

As the mist slid down the slope, it would occasionally break, revealing a dry, earth-colored rock face beneath it. The mist covered his entire field of vision, but it kept him from losing track of where he was stepping next. But he still didn't know where he was. He kept looking for the outline of a huge stone castle in the mist, but he couldn't seem to find it. He couldn't tell where he was on the mountain or how far away he was from Nurmengard. The air around us seemed to be growing whiter and whiter as night was falling and dawn was coming. The outside air was cold enough to make his breath turn white, but the coat that Grindelwald passed when he left the forest made it much less cold. He scrunched up his collar and kept his eyes on Grindelwald's back.  
Grindewald was walking a little ahead at him.  
It was a feeling he remembered, similar to the feeling he had when he was wandering in the forest last night, but something was definitely different.  
He had felt this way once before.

There were so many things he wanted to ask you.

There were countless questions, he knew. But the reason why his questions were vague was because he didn't really understand the situation he was in. It was just like the time when he didn't know where he was walking on the way back to the castle because he was deeply surrounded by mist. He would not have been able to return... without a sign.  
'You can rest now.' The voice said.  
He sank down on the bed, exhausted, and looked up at the ceiling. He didn't hear the door close, and so there was still Grindelwald in his room. Apparently, Grindelwald was not going to leave the room until he fell asleep. As he watched the glow of the morning light shifting and gradually spreading over time, he realized that what had been holding him back had somehow melted away.  
'Can I trust you?'  
He whispered, feeling as if he were a young child again. It was only after he had said it that he realized how vulnerable it was... how much he was throwing himself away. His words had melted into the air and there was no way he could get back them in his body again. But strangely, it didn't bother him. He had a vague feeling that everything was going to be fine. Nagini's and his own future, and...  
"Follow your heart.  
A voice came down gently from above.

"My hope is with you.

He couldn't see Grindelwald. But it was a nostalgic feeling that spread from his palms to his entire body.  
That's why... he could believe again.


	5. Chapter 5

V

Credence was staring at a single, wilting red carnation.  
He stared breathlessly at the faded, pale petals that began to change color and shape as soon as his hand was placed over them. The surface of the red flower was covered with a fine pattern of golden grains that turned yellow toward the tip.  
Credence had never seen such a flower before.  
The moment he reached for it. The man said. "Don't touch."  
'There is no problem, if only you don't touch.'  
Both ends of the man's lips slowly rose in the shape of an unmistakable smile. His voice seemed to become lower and gentler, as if to apologize for the sharp tone of voice he had just used. Credence thought that the man was trying to calm him down, to tell him that there was nothing to worry about.  
It was a voice that never condemned him to dream, so he continued to listen.  
'This flower's name is Periculid, beautiful, but its petals are poisonous.'  
"Don't be fooled by appearances." That's what the man said. "Mr.Graves is always right. Mr.Graves's evaluating me correctly." Credence had thought. He remembered every single word Mr.Graves said.  
"Seek the truth. You have a gift. Credence. You're sensitive, observant... and intelligent. You can touch it."

Roses in white, red, yellow, blue, purple and other unusual shades fill the greenery that grows all around. Fresh green ivy crawled along the fence, and as he walked along at his leisure, He could see combinations of vivid colors that did not exist in the castle, one after another, filling his vision. The breeze on his cheeks drew his eyes upward to the garden, and under the gray sky were winter mountains covered with snow. He stood there for a while, watching the movement of the clouds. The wind was blowing here too, but it was probably not as strong as the wind blowing outside. The outside air must have been piercingly cold, but in this garden, there was only the gentle warmth of a spring day.  
If he look at it one by one, there is not strange at all.  
He knew that in the wizarding world, anything can happen. But before, he just knew. He would never have been able to get rid of the feeling of discomfort... Now, he accepted it as it is. He walked through the garden, accepting his fresh feeling with a sense of surprise and satisfaction. And he felt a sense of regret a bit when he realized that the feeling of the soil he stepped on was... only for today.  
The roses and the plants will all go to sleep tomorrow.  
'I thought this place would stay like this anytime.'  
'Nothing stays the same.'  
He looked back at the petals, searing their thickness and texture into his memory as he touched them with his fingertips. Some roses have a dormant period, during which they do not bloom. But in this garden, where the temperature was carefully controlled, he could enjoy roses in full bloom all year round - theoretically, forever.  
However it was necessary. Grindelwald said so. To shed its leaves, to cut off its damaged and weakened branches...  
He looked down at Grindelwald's face that was looking at him. Even more than usual, Grindelwald was doing so at him. Because of his expression. but he didn't feel like pretend that it was nothing for him.  
'There's nothing to be sad about, they are not going away. Returning them to the soil like this will provide nutrients for the next flower to grow.'  
'But... is not the same flower.'  
Grindelwald seemed to be smiling. 'It's not unusual.'  
'The seasons come and go each year, but the same time never comes again. There are many who do not realize this.'  
'Never comes again...'  
He looked out over the garden scene once more. Grindelwald, moving away with his hands behind his back, looks like he's slowly sinking into the green. His back became smaller and smaller as he moved away.  
He followed its back.

A crack appeared in the side of the hull, and the ship sank to the bottom of the ocean, spewing out huge bubbles. One after another, the seawater invaded the ship, and soon there was no way to hold it in place, dragging those who were left behind to fall deeper into the water. Leaving behind the desperate expressions on their faces as they were thrown to the surface, the rescue boats carrying the survivors cut through the black waves.  
The night sea was dark and thick with the presence of death.  
'You were there.'  
Grindelwald whispered his story with unhurried tone. He looked up at the faint white profile and downcast eyes.  
'How did you know?  
Tilting his head slightly as he sat deeper in his chair, Grindelwald smiled at him.  
'It means Dumbledore's cover wasn't complete. It wasn't easy to retrace the steps of the one who took you, but it was worth it.  
Irma Dugard... he understood Grindelwald was referring to the half-elf he encountered once in Paris.  
'I found out about it a short time before I received you, my boy.'  
He continued to stare at the profile of Grindelwald. He felt as if something would become clearer if he kept looking focus, but Grindelwald didn't continue. He cautiously repressed the question he was about to pose and turned his attention back to the fireplace.  
The flames flickered in the fireplace, making a small sound as they burned. The air in the room was warm and inviting, and as he sat on the soft carpet, he almost forgot that it was still snowing outside the window. The story he had been told at the cemetery a few months ago seemed like something out of a dream or something.  
But it was real.  
It just affirmed. By the words of Grindelwald.  
'...They died. A lot of people.'  
Only a handful of people survived. He is not sure what to make of that. He thought any of them never wanted that ending.  
None of them would have intended to die.  
'You're alive.'

'Nothing else mattered to me.'  
Nothing.  
He looked down at his hand as he slowly ruminated on the words that echoed in his ears. No need to open his mouth. There was no need to open his mouth, because he wasn't being asked to respond. Nothing is important. Nothing else matters. He doesn't know what to think about what Grindelwald said.  
He is alive and continuing to live.

He didn't know how to handle the faint tingling in his chest. Something hot and unsettling rose up behind his eyes, and he swam through his thoughts, trying to escape. His thoughts swam back to the unfortunate events that had befallen Corvus Lestrange. If the stories he had heard before were true, the baby Credence had been switched with the real Corvus and escaped his fate of death...  
The baby slept in the arms of a half-elf with her master's young daughter, wrapped up with care. A young child who, if alive, would have been the same age by now. He wondered if Corvus had even the slightest inkling of his impending death on the wey to the trip.  
As soon as the thought occurred to him, he felt an icy coldness. It was as if he was suddenly submerged in freezing water, a sensation that penetrated deep into his skin without mercy, and eventually covered his entire body with a shiver. In the middle of a scene that he could not possibly remember, there were people drowning so close to him that he could reach them.  
There were countless dead.

For the greater good.

In the words of Grindelwald, Aurelius Dumbledore was worth so much to him, for he had been fortunate enough to escape the hordes of the dead and seize life. Corvus Lestrange. A son who had come into this world loved and wanted by his father. But he was chosen, even overriding the value of Corvus's life.  
He was chosen. By Grindelwald.  
'...What if it wasn't me?'  
What if it wasn't Corvus who survived?  
He looked sideways at the man beside him. Whether Grindelwald knew that the baby had been switched during the accident or not, he could not understand. "When I met you a year ago, you were not the man I knew." - what did these words mean?  
He didn't want to think about it.  
If Grindelwald really wanted him to be Corvus Lestrange, just as Yusuf Kama wanted Corvus to be his family's enemy, then it would be a terrible mistake for him to be here now...  
'Everything was the way it should be, from the beginning.'  
Grindelwald's voice came quietly from above him.  
He thought of the phoenix that was probably resting on its perch in the corner of his room. The presence of the bird, a testament to the Dumbledore clan, blew away the anxiety that smoldered inside and brought a pleasant sense of peace. He slowly opened and closed his palms, and as he meditated, he bit down on the realization. He thought "I can stay here." In this place where he could live without any inconvenience.  
No fear. No more pain, no more suffering. He had finally arrived at the kind of world that he should have been in. He thought about a world. A world where everyone can be who they are and live freely without being oppressed. Such a world. A world where Nagini can also live free from the curse is... but for that to happen...  
'Are you curious about Albus Dumbledore?'  
He raised his eyes and looked at Grindelwald was sinking into the chair.  
He knew how the white fingertips laced together in front of his chest handled the wand, how strong the magic that emanated from it was. He also saw the blue flames that had enveloped the cemetery, from a moment they danced and touched people... people disappeared like dust. The red flames of the fireplace flickered in the corner of his vision. Blue and red. He turned his consciousness to that contrasting hues. "Another powerful wizard who was said to have the same power as Grindelwald."  
If...  
'What would happen if you and Dumbledore teamed up?'  
Grindelwald smiled. 'That will never happen.'  
For some reason, that smile stirred him, and before he could think about it, he continued.  
'So what if Dumbledore wanted to join forces with you?'  
There was no reply.  
Just as he was beginning to wonder if he had asked a stupid question, Grindelwald stood up, shaking the hem of his jacket. A gentle smile appeared on the face as Grindelwald looked down at him.  
'It's time to tell you the truth.'

Shaking his head, he looked around.  
As his eyes adjusted to the darkness, he realized that the room he had been led into by Grindelwald was a library. The sight of the seemingly endless rows of tall bookshelves was familiar to him, but he hadn't realized how far into the room it went. He and Grindelwald walked. As he walked, the candles on the sides of the shelves were automatically lit.  
After a while, the rows of bookshelves came to the end.  
'Aurelius.'  
As soon as he peered down the aisle at Grindelwald's urging, he gasped at the sight that appeared before him.  
The night sky stretched out beyond the tremendously high windows. The cloudless blue night sky was crystal clear, and the pale light shining through the glass brought out the patterns on the floor. The intricate carvings on the edges of the windows were very similar to those he had seen in the church before - or maybe they were.  
Asking him to take a seat for a while, Grindelwald went to the back of the space. On the desk was a pipe made of a familiar skull and a book.  
When Grindelwald returned, he saw Grindewald had holding something that looked like a bottle in his hand.  
The inside of the transparent container was filled with some kind of liquid.  
'I have seen some prophecies about you.' Grindelwald continued, reaching out with one hand and touching the skull's forehead with a caressing hand.  
'Have you ever wondered why prophecy exists? Why foreknowledge exists, and who would bring such unparalleled wisdom to wizardkind, and for what purpose?'  
'...'  
'One answer... is this.'  
With a flick of his wand and a few enigmatic words, Grindelwald hollowed out the top of the skull in a circle, as if opening a lid, and it floated up noiselessly. Before his eyes, the bottle was tilted and the pearly liquid spilled out. A translucent vapor rose up softly soon after. The skull, now seamlessly closed, began to glow from within, and a soft scent began to waft through the air.  
It was as if he was in a hazy dream, he thought. He felt the questions that had been lodged in his chest begin to lift their heads and leave his body.  
'Is it true that Dumbledore is trying to... kill me?'  
There had to be a reason why Grindelwald had brought him here.  
There had to be a reason for everything that had happened and would happen...  
There had to be a meaning. His past and his future.  
'Before you answer that question.' Grindelwald broke off. Now he was looking at Grindelwald's unusual expression. Something... something out of the ordinary.  
'I want to show you this.'  
There was no reason to refuse. As if drawn to these words, he got up from his chair and went to Grindelwald's side. The tip of the long pipe was caught between Grindelwad's thin lips, and soon white smoke was slowly exhaled into the hollow.  
He looked beyond it.

At first, all he could see was the swirling smoke. Eventually, what he saw was a staircase. The stone stairs were ancient, apparently built a long time ago. Perhaps...  
Not here. Not this castle. But strangely enough, a room with a somewhat similar atmosphere spread out in front of him. The bookshelves much shorter than the one here. Then he saw the old wooden ceiling beams, but these sights did not evoke any emotion in him.  
He saw a stone statue with wings.  
It was the first time he had seen it, or at least not in his memory.  
As he stared, the smoke flickered slightly, and now he saw the vague image of two person facing each other. An old man and a boy. They were talking across a desk in a not-so-large room. Their voices were muffled and excruciatingly difficult to hear. He had no idea who the boy was. He didn't recognize the boy at all. The same was true for the other man.  
But now he knew - he knew who the man was.  
He could feel the hairs on his body stand on end.  
He was aware of the fingertips on his shoulder in reality. He wanted to know what Grindelwald looked like now. Now... before he could, however, the smoke rapidly took shape again and enveloped him.  
Two person were standing against the setting sun. This time, A man and a woman.  
The man had not aged in this scene. He seemed to be the same age as he was in his memory - not much different from the impression in the photo. The man was talking to the woman standing across from him. The content of the conversation was still inaudible, but it seemed to him that the man was trying to convince her something.  
Eventually, the man handed something to the woman from ones pocket, and it glowed in the evening light. It looked like an hourglass or a necklace, with a chain attached to it. The man left and the woman continued to stand there.  
Just as he was about to look over, the scene changed again.  
It was a different, spacious place.  
The dark-haired boy he had seen earlier was pointing the wand straight at him.  
His whole body was stained with soot and blood. He was still bleeding, but he was still looking forward. The tension in the muscles of the boy's arms... He thought. The anguished expression on his face, his teeth clenched, showed his determination to die. The boy is about to risk his life and attack someone standing behind him right now - no.  
It was over.  
Suddenly, It jumped into his vision with a premonition.  
It looked like a statue at first, but it was a man. Its mouth was wide open as if it was still screaming, its eyes were wide open, and its limbs were rigid. As soon as his face and limbs started to crack, the disintegration increased in speed. It was as if something terrible was eating away at his body from the inside and out, and he was falling apart... In reality, His eyes followed the last fragments of the blackened skin, now a mass of ashes, as it was swept up by the wind. How could he take his eyes off it?  
In his rapidly changing vision, he could see the figure of the boy behind the white smoke. Beyond that, he could see the towering mountains, and suddenly, two pairs of huge eyes appeared in front of him. He didn't have time to resist. He was pulled into the swirling smoke as the huge, wide-open eyes closed in on him at an unbelievable speed. In the white light, he was scattered, torn apart and gone.  
There was nothing left behind.  
As his sense of reality returned, he realized that his legs were trembling.  
The area was still silent. There was no change in the scene he was staring at. The smoky space had been blown away, and things had returned to normal. The starry sky outside the window and the bookshelves glowing in the moonlight hadn't changed at all... but he felt as if years, even decades, had passed.  
It was as if time had stood still around his body and would never let him go. It felt as if dust was still falling at the edge of his vision, but he couldn't muster up the energy to brush it away. If he was not mistaken - what he had just been shown.  
The sight he just saw was...  
'It's a sign of some of the fates... you'll eventually meet in your future.'

There were pairs of black and white eyes close by. He clung desperately to their gaze as they stared at him. Otherwise, he would end up back at the bottom of that whirling pit of screams.  
'That's the way Albus Dumbledore works. He risked the lives of his subordinates while standing in the safety of his own home. He's also manipulated many other poor victims out of the shadows and sent them back to this time.'  
'...'  
'This is all part of his plan to destroy you without a trace. Aurelius.'  
In a trembling voice, he finally whispered.  
'...disappear to where?'  
'To nowhere.'  
Grindelwald answered simply. 'To a place no one knows.'  
He tried to open his mouth in his growing confusion, but he could not continue.  
He stood there and stared at the profile of Grindelwald.  
In his mind's eye, he could see the vivid scenes of the future war he had witnessed before. The sight of so many people being thrown into war, bullets flying through the dust, and huge explosions. "If we don't rise up and take ourrightful place in the world." - Grindelwald had told the audiences, never told them to give in to the future and break their knees... but rather the opposite, it seemed to him. And Grindelwald also said to him. "Dumbledore was so afraid of your power that he tried to destroy you."...

'I....'  
He swallowed his spit.  
'I have the power to kill Dumbledore.'  
His lips unconsciously traced the words that had been etched into his mind's memory so many times.  
Grindelwald nodded in satisfaction. 'Exactly.'  
'You will definitely kill Albus Dumbledore.'

He looked at Grindelwald's face once more. What did this man just say to him?  
Confusion spread through his heart again. If he could, he would like to erase from his mind the scene he had just witnessed, but he knew he could not do that. It was not a certainty, but an inexplicable premonition - an urge that came from within. Above all, his heart, which was still beating unnaturally fast regardless of his will, was not going to let him forget it.  
He whispered softly.  
'Can I change... the future?'  
Grindelwald answered quietly.  
'Yes and No.'  
With his white hand on the pipe of his skull, which Grindelwald had placed on the desk as before, and continued.  
'It is difficult for even the most skilled wizard to see exactly where the cause-effect relationships for behavior lies. I have seen that many unfortunate people. If they do not know anything, if they knew nothing or did nothing, would have been able to avoid being bottled up in the fate of destruction.'  
He turned his head. He understood exactly what Grindelwald was saying. If that was the case, would it be better for him to do nothing? He said that Dumbledore's hand would never come near this castle. If that's the case, it's probably safe to stay here until the danger is over... But how can he guarantee that he'll be able to avoid confrontation forever?  
He looked back at Grindelwald and our eyes met. It's as if he's seeing through the thoughts that have been running through his mind for some time now. He knew it, too.  
Dumbledore wouldn't be coming any time soon. But, there is no eternity.  
  
He knitted his brows tightly together and closed his eyes.  
He didn't want to think about the future. Still, this day was over, and tomorrow would come. When tomorrow is over, the next one will come. No matter how much he repeated himself, that fact would always follow him.  
It seemed to be something he couldn't avoid. There was no way out. It must have been set up that way.  
He thought of a man. A man with auburn hair brushed back and blue eyes. A man who was loved and adored by everyone. A brother... he hadn't even met yet.  
'I'll kiill Albus Dumbledore.'  
Grindelwald nodded. 'It is your fate.'  
He turned his face down. He didn't know if it was called fate, or even if it was the right thing to do. He was just a little curious.  
If there really is such a thing as fate. Who decided when and how?

'But You also can choose.'  
He looked at Grindelwald quizzically at the unexpected words. At Grindelwad's motionless figure as he stood there, buried in the crowd of books.  
Albus Dumbledore had tried to kill him many times before, would continue to try to kill him in the future. All the facts he had learned since arriving at the castle confirmed Grindelwald's words. And... He thought. If Nagini was still in the hands of that man at this very moment, time would not be on his side.  
He was not going to be killed quietly by Dumbledore. So he would kill the man before he was killed.  
It seemed like he had no choice.

Suddenly, he remembered.  
'I heard before... you are collecting pureblood wizards.'  
Grindelwald slowly turned around with his white hands folded behind his back. He stared into two eyes. White and black. He was not sure what to make of this expressions. He was trying to determine the true meaning behind them. He had heard such rumors while he was in the... circus, where pure-blooded wizards were descending one after another to the dark wizard, Grindelwald. He had never really thought about it. Not once did he even question it.  
He knew almost nothing about the man in front of him, come to think of it.  
Grindelwald responded to his question with a single word.  
Without the slightest hesitation.

'You are the one I was looking for. Aurelius.'

’For a long time, I'm looking for you.’  
A wand was waved in front of his eyes, triggering his gaze.  
The wand had a distinctive shape, like a gnarled branch. His eyes were drawn to the movement.  
Each time a ray of light shot out from the tip of the wand, the glow scattered across the blues that covered his head. As his eyes were drawn to the flickering light, a star-filled sky was forming on the ceiling. The light source was dotted in a curved line, resembling the flow of water, swirling and scattering in different directions. The stars circled around the glittering band of light. Before he knew it, his feet were off the floor. Strangely unafraid, he passed through the seasons in unison with the light drifting through the air. Half-man, half-beast, archer, horned beast with four limbs ...... passed through the constellations that bore their names. It's a great way to get the most out of your time.  
How much time had passed?  
He landed on the ground again. Morning and night repeated themselves, and the landscape that had been changing at an unusual speed gradually regained its original shape and color. Still immersed in the dizzying sensation, he just waited for the time to come. He waited for a long time, and finally the time came.  
He saw it.  
He saw the golden light of the last twinkling of the stars before dawn.  
He saw the figures of countless people.  
They were all looking up at the figure of someone else.  
The person at the other end of the light was himself.

'You were born to lead the people.'

Who said that?  
When did he decide that? 

He saw that Grindelwald's eyes were filled with tears.  
He was speechless, and behind him, a book on the library desk blazed up soundlessly.  
The Predictions of Tycho Dodonus.  
He turned and looked at its title, which was written in long, thin gold letters on the brown cover. As he looked at it, it warped from the heat, and the thick pages fluttered in the scorching air. The flickering flames were reflected in the pages as the string of letters and symbols melted away and burned down. Along with the handwritten words that had been scrawled all over the page from corner to corner, they turned into fine dust and blew away. It would not be long before they were all gone.  
He remembered.  
He remembered the passage that was being lost before his eyes.  
A son cruelly banished, despair of the daughter, return, great avenger with wings from the water... but in the end it had nothing to do with him, Aurelius Dumbledore. It was many months ago. The memory was distant and hazy. But still, he couldn't believe that the woman's crying confession was a lie. An unfortunate accident had befallen a ship on the Atlantic Ocean. It happened in the middle of the chaos. The woman who had been called Leta. Credence had been replaced by the real Corvus Lestrange by her hands and was supposed to be... spared from the fate of death...  
The sound of Grindelwald's footsteps echoed on the floor. To his ears, it sounded as if it said "No." He turned and stared back. He tried to peer further into the depths of Grindelwad's eyes, deeper and deeper into white and black eyes, but they were still hidden something beneath a quiet expression, and he couldn't see what was going on inside.  
He was not sure. What's right and what's wrong? He didn't even know if the floor he was stepping on is really flat or not. What is he here for?  
How long have he been here in the first place?

He was too ignorant of the answers he should have had.  
Meditating, he groped slowly inside himself. The strange feeling of elation was not due to the scene he had just witnessed. Whatever it was, it was already in the past for him. The real starry sky was still far above him, looking down on him thourgh the window. He could feel its presence on his skin. He could feel its presence on his skin, but it was just there, and it didn't seem to bring him any answers. Come to think of it, there was nothing of his own here. He had left everything behind. But he had been given everything he needed. Grindelwald had given him everything he had ever wanted, so he hadn't needed to ask for it...  
He had waited and waited...  
He waited and waited for Grindelwald's lips to move, and spell the answer he wanted.

He finally understood why he had been called here.  
He understood why he was called here, why he was standing here now.  
'Do not accept your fate as it is given to you, but choose it for yourself.'  
Grindelwald's fingertips and palms touched his cheeks. When he opened his eyes, his gaze collided with the gaze that was pointed straight at him. The blue flame seemed to be reflected in their eyes.

'As I chose you.'

\---

"You too?"  
"No. I can only see future events."

"Is that why you're coming here. For him?"

"He didn't die."  
"He's still alive."

A woman said in a whispered voice, and extended her finger. A man did too. At the moment their fingertips touched, they saw something.  
Something wrapped in a white cloth was slowly descending from above. It swayed noiselessly in the water, wrapped in a dazzling golden light...  
As soon as their fingertips left, the vision vanished.  
Only for a moment, but enough. A smile appeared on Grindelwald's lips as he pressesd open his eye stared at the woman. Now it could be the cruel words to tell her now as a price. The woman lying on her bed was now in a state of calm. She had such a calm expression on her face.  
Even so, people still want to know the future.  
'You are going to die soon.'

'But your death will not be in vain.'  
The woman smiled. Her eyes shine like obsidian, and it was impossible to tell whether they reflected her past or future.  
After a while, the woman breathed her last as if falling asleep.

On the outskirts of the village, there lived a single woman. She was known as a sorceress among Non-Magiques, and not a single person in the village would willingly approach her. Therefore, no one wanted to hold a funeral for her.  
A woman who died without revealing her origins to anyone except her last name, Tremblay.  
Under the sunny sky, the mourning ceremony was being held.  
Grindelwald stroked the dead woman's eye lids and closed them. As the flames burned the corpse, what had been flesh and blood turned to dust and flew away. The way they danced in the wind looked like flower petals falling apart. The sound of the blazing flames was like the song of a liberated soul. After the fire was extinguished, only the skull remained as a tangible object. Lowering his staff and reaching out with one hand, Grindelwald grabbed the proof of life left behind by the dead from the ashes.   
On the forehead of the skull was engraved the number 1898. 

Grindelwald caught the young man with both arms and trapped him in his arms, kissed the forehead of him. He imagined the flames of the inner fire shining through the thin skin, slowly flickering. It was a beautiful weapon that had been out of his hands for a long time, waiting to burst into the world in a blaze of glory.  
Now that it had fallen into his hands again, he had no intention of letting it go.  
Often, the young man brought a sense of unpredictability to Grindelwald. It was a tricky thing. But it had to be this one.  
This is the only entity alive who can kill Albus Dumbledore - this is the key to overcoming their fate.

**Author's Note:**

> *My original version is written in Japanese.  
> Now I'm trying to translate its one of the parts, but I extremely doubt my reckless behavior will be correctly working...I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.  
> Need talk about Credence.


End file.
